NEARLY three out of 10 police officers - about 40,000 in England and Wales - have been threatened with a knife while on duty, a major new survey revealed today.

Nearly six per cent, amounting to about 7,000 officers, have been threatened with a gun.

The Police Federation poll comes just days after special constable Nisha Patel-Nasri was stabbed to death outside her home last Thursday.

The Birmingham Mail's One Knife One Life campaign was launched several weeks ago in a bid to focus attention on knife crime.

Speaking ahead of the Federation's annual conference, which opens in Bournemouth today, chairman Jan Berry said: "More than 7,000 police officers are telling us that in the last two years

they have been threatened with a gun. As we all learned so tragically last week, the knife continues to be the biggest threat for police officers.

"Forty thousand across the service have been threatened with a knife in the last two years.

"Another 38 per cent of officers - or 50,000 extrapolated to the whole service - have been threatened with another type of weapon - that could be anything from a bottle to a baseball bat."

The survey also showed that frontline officers have again overwhelmingly rejected being routinely armed. Only 23.4 per cent said officers should carry guns, compared with 22 per cent when the Federation last asked its members views on the subject three years ago.

It was the first time the Federation - which represents frontline police officers - had polled all its 141,000 members on this issue, of whom 47,000 replied.

Mrs Berry said: "When asked if they want to be routinely armed, the answer from officers continues to be a very firm 'No'.

"Following the tragic murder of PC Sharon Beshenivsky last year, a number of officers were critical that we hadn't asked their view. We decided that we would survey everyone."

The survey found that 89 per cent wanted to see use of Tasers extended. At present, only specially-trained firearms officers are allowed to carry the electric shock weapons.